10/23/2003

Update: The show was spectacular. The singing fabulous, the band terriffic, the stories funny.

Recording standards, Steve's met the families of a number of America's greatest artists. Jimmy McHugh's grandsons told Steve about how their grandad had to sell his piano during the darkest days of the depression. A few days later Jimmy McHugh ran into George Gershwin on the street. George asked him how it was going, Jimmy said, "Not good, it's so bad I had to sell my piano". Two days later, George has a piano delivered to Jimmy's place with a note, wishing him a change in fortune. The first song Jimmy wrote on that piano kept his family fed for a really long time...I'm in the Mood For Love.

We asked the waiter if we could stay for the second show and sit up front. We had a very hard time not swooning, sitting in the front row, and being serenaded with with I've Got the World on a String (my favorite song)

After the show, they all signed my birthday card and Steve sang Happy Birthday to me. The very best birthday I've ever had ;^D

"No whining! No crying! We are the fortunate ones. We lived when so many better men all around us gave up their lives for us. We owe them an obligation to live every day to its maximum potential; to work every day to make this country and this world a better place for our children, and their children."- B.T. Collins